"I missed one!" Kyle shouted. "Gimme a sec!"
Then, he charged forward.
"Stop!" Selene shouted as she saw the scout vanishing behind the hill.
She knew what this meant.
An army of warrior ants would soon come charging over the hill, and this idiot was running right into them!
"I'll be done quick!" Kyle shouted as he ran past the hill.
"Oh, shit!" Selene heard Kyle shout from behind the hill.
Selene wasn't sure what she should do.
If she charged over the hill, she would be entering the Hillstalker Nest, which could kill her.
But if she retreated, this maniac would die for sure!
In the end, she gritted her teeth and told Skweera to charge forward.
Skweera landed on the hill and looked at the ant nest.
She was prepared for a battle, but when she actually saw the nest, the only thing she could feel was shock.
There were so many dead ants!
Then, she noticed Kyle pulling his hammer out of a dead warrior ant.
"Turns out, I missed a scout and three warriors," Kyle said, looking back at her. "No idea where they were. I was here for like three days, and they never showed up."
Selene didn't answer and just looked at the dead ants.
Skweera slowly walked forward, taking a sniff of the ant corpses occasionally.
"Did you kill all of that?" she asked.
"Well, duh," Kyle answered. "I told you I dealt with the ant nest. You should take a look inside. There are way more in there."
Skweera sent signals of anxiety to Selene.
The Hillstalker Ant pheromone made it nervous.
"Wanna see?" Kyle asked with a bit of excitement.
He wanted to show off his first genocide.
"No, thank you. Skweera doesn't fit in there," Selene answered awkwardly.
That was when Selene saw something that shocked her once again.
Kyle tore off the leg of a Hillstalker Ant and drank the insect juices.
She couldn't even say anything.
This guy was committing suicide!
"It tastes disgusting, but I need Ether," Kyle shouted.
Selene just looked at Kyle in confusion and shock.
He would die any minute now.
Soon.
Aaaaany second now, the wild Ether would kill him.
Very soon.
"Hey," Kyle shouted from the other hill. "Can we move?"
Selene just looked at Kyle.
"Why are you not dead?" she asked.
"I'm pretty strong," Kyle said with a proud smile.
"No, I meant the Beast Ether. You just consumed Beast Ether," she said.
"Oh, that," Kyle said. "I'm half-dwarf."
"Half-dwarf?" she asked, "but I thought you were an Adept."
"I am," Kyle said. "I got the human Aspects of Power, but the dwarf ability to eat beasts. Neat, right?"
Neat?
That was…
Selene became silent as she realized how much of an advantage this was.
Kyle was human, but he could advance simply by consuming beasts.
He didn't need to bid for Ether elixirs.
He didn't need to vie for the valuable and rare pure Ether sources.
"I'm waiting," Kyle shouted.
"Oh, right," Selene said as she told Skweera to continue walking forward.
Kyle jumped over the hill, and Selene followed.
When Skweera stepped over the hill, Selene was greeted with even more ant corpses.
"How many are there?" she asked in shock.
"I already told you," Kyle said casually as he walked past the corpses. "Was like 70 or something."
70?
That was not a small nest.
Selene looked at Kyle with surprise and confusion.
Did he actually kill such a big nest on his own?
How?
How could a mere Peak Adept kill that many Hillstalker Ants?
No matter how Selene thought about it, it seemed impossible.
Hillstalker Ants were not smart, but they were relentless, and they attacked in huge numbers.
Even more, their chitin was also quite hard.
Sure, with his big hammer, Kyle could probably kill one of them, but then, he would be overwhelmed by their numbers.
It was difficult for Selene to believe that Kyle did all of that on his own, but she couldn't really deny the evidence.
'Maybe he's not as weak as I've thought,' she thought.
After they passed through the destroyed ant nest, Kyle stopped.
"So, where do we go now?" he asked.
"We need to travel 50 more kilometers to the east," she said.
"Okay, but I haven't been there yet," Kyle said. "Don't know what's waiting for us there."
"That won't be an issue," Selene said. "There is a safe pathway."
"Safe pathway?" Kyle asked.
"Yes?" Selene asked back.
"There are safe pathways?" Kyle asked.
"Of course. How would the caravans travel from Cradle to Cradle without them?" she asked.
Kyle blinked a couple of times.
"Theodor?" he asked quietly as he acted like he was coughing.
"There are safe pathways," Theodor answered. "Relatively safe, that is. These areas were frequented by very powerful Ferocious Beasts. Most Ferocious Beasts avoid these areas, leaving only the powerful Ferocious Beasts and normal beasts. The powerful Ferocious Beasts are not interested in anything at the Initial or Early Second Realm, which is why the caravans never travel with anyone or anything in the Mid or Late Second Realm."
"Then, why the fuck did I run through one dangerous territory after the other?!" Kyle whispered angrily.
"Because the pathways shift," Theodor answered with annoyance. "They change all the time, and not even I can predict them. Besides, I never needed to know them. I just rode on Hieronymus."
Kyle imagined Theodor riding on that weird stone dragon golem dog thing.
'Yeah, he probably didn't need those,' he thought as he remembered that terrifying golem.
Kyle sighed.
'This journey could've been so much easier,' he thought as he remembered all the times he had nearly died.
Selene just watched Kyle with concern as he kept coughing.
That was quite unusual.
People in their Realm rarely got sick.
That was only something that afflicted very weak mortals.
Even the average mortal never got sick.
"Alright," Kyle said. "So, where do we go?"
"Let Skweera do the walking," Selene said, gesturing for Kyle to come over.
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